Flight museum offers a ride to the past (Gadling)

Filed under: History, North America, United States

Galveston features a number of attractive features for travelers. In the Texas
island town over the weekend for the US debut of Carnival Cruise Lines new
Carnival Magic, Gadling got to sample a few of them. One that stands out as a
must-do for aviation buffs is the Lone Star Flight Museum. This rare
collection of restored war aircraft ranks as one of the finest and most rare
in the world. Uniquely, many of the museum's historic aircraft still fly today
and were flying while we were there.

Tours of the museum that can take as little as a hour ($10 per person) for the
"just curious" or far longer (and far $more) for "this is my dream come true"
aviation fanatics. That later group might enjoy a ride in one of these
"warbirds" and for them, the price may be well worth every penny.

The B-17 Flying Fortress ($425 per person with group rates) was flying while
we were there and was an Army Air Corps heavy-duty bomber in World War II. The
four-engine aircraft flew strategic bombing missions over Europe armed with
.50 caliber machine guns ...